Monday, September 14, 2009

I don't think there is a lot to say today. We have another one of Randall's patented "All relationships turn to total sadness and heartbreak" comics, which were pissing me off last summer and are pissing me off now. Some people think the analogy is funny anyway; I say, you can make any anology funny as long as you are dictating the terms of that analogy. In other words, if he had said love was like a T-Rex, full of angry energy, constant biting (sorry guys, i had to write that) and featured on a popular webcomic, that also would have worked, because the only thing we have to base their relationship on is the very analogy that he gave us. It's the same sort of reverse-engineered cheating I complained about in comic 575.

i'll give points to the alt-text for being funny despite that, though the humor of the alt-text only reinforces the mediocrity of the rest of it.

nah, the title text isn't even good because it mentions raptors. even if there's a chance randall is making fun of himself, there's still raptors, which he's done to death. and weren't even funny in the first place.

This strip was good, but it let me down. It has a turtle analogy, and a picture of a turtle. I was looking forward to the picture of a brontosaurus in the last panel! There was no such picture. The strip ended with depression.

The title-text was funny. Although I wish just once Randall could have been self-deprecating about his own sex life, instead of his readers'.

Adam: I presume it's referring to the way the name "brontosaurus" turned out to refer to a dinosaur that already had a name, and so officially it's no longer used in favour of the earlier name -- however, it is rather cemented in the public consciousness!

I'm not sure I agree with the review today. I sure as hell didn't like that strip, but I'm wondering whether it's due to extreme animosity, or if it's because I think like Carl. I don't think *any* analogy can be funny -- that's sort of like that "any joke loses its humour given a convenient explanation" argument I used to use here all the time. What I *do* think, though, is that the comic is extremely dull and wangsty -- the kind of thing I've come to really hate.

The tickets ended up going for $50, and it looks like they may have more tickets available (they mentioned if you wanted to buy additonal ones to email them.) That combined with their extending the auction for a day makes me wonder if turnout wasn't so great.

Adam: I presume it's referring to the way the name "brontosaurus" turned out to refer to a dinosaur that already had a name, and so officially it's no longer used in favour of the earlier name -- however, it is rather cemented in the public consciousness!

That's what someone mentioned on the last thread and it still doesn't make sense to call a brontosaurus a mistaken combination. Or, put another way, try saying it this way:

Well, the way the auction works is that everyone bids the max they are willing to spend, and then the top 100 bids get tickets, but they pay the lowest bid in that top 100. So it's possible bunch of people bid something really high.

I'm surprised, too, because the median income for the NYC area is pretty high (~$48K) and you'd think xkcd fans would all be working high-paying techie jobs.

Oh, and Anon, they said when the auction started that they were going to charge around $100 for tickets before they decided to go with an auction instead, so unless a lot of people decide to donate beyond the ticket price, they may only make enough to cover costs.

...I expected mroe from this review. Such as how the punchline is all messed up, beyond begin one of such "reverse-engineering" cop-outs. Also, why the heck is that turtle there? Is Randall setting a pattern here, first that squirrel and now this turtle?

(06:23:37 PM) Super_Sam: all aloria has to do is introduce herself as 'Hi, I'm aloria from xkcd sucks'(06:23:47 PM) Super_Sam: it can only get better from there(06:23:59 PM) Justin: Yeah, I think she is going to take pictures(06:24:28 PM) Justin: I can't imagine what's going to happen(06:24:58 PM) Dasafrak: Randy will make her fell bad(06:25:06 PM) R: Maybe she could give him "understanding comics" by Scott McCloud followered by a rude comment?(06:25:13 PM) Super_Sam: aloria shall not succumb to emotional blackmail(06:25:56 PM) Dasafrak: I think a polite comment would sting more(06:25:56 PM) Justin: Like he did with Dr. Horrible(06:26:01 PM) Justin: I don't think so.(06:26:09 PM) Person1: actually I like that idea(06:26:16 PM) Person1: like everyone gets an A4 page she will print out(06:26:21 PM) Person1: and give it to randy as a book(06:26:28 PM) Person1: with a letter, drawing or whatever(06:26:30 PM) Justin: haha(06:26:30 PM) Super_Sam: xkcd sucks: volume 0(06:26:39 PM) Dasafrak: ha(06:26:46 PM) Person1: i think it would be a charming idea, and randy would be happy if we aren't going to be assholes about it(06:27:05 PM) Justin: What would we even put in it?(06:27:08 PM) Person1: well(06:27:11 PM) Person1: a letter(06:27:16 PM) Person1: some tips(06:27:19 PM) Person1: maybe a couldbebetter(06:27:21 PM) Dasafrak: from each of us?(06:27:22 PM) Person1: whatever you want basically(06:27:23 PM) Person1: yeah(06:27:24 PM) Justin: "Dear randy, you suck."(06:27:42 PM) Dasafrak: More depth(06:27:44 PM) Justin: I can't imagine what else it would be(06:27:58 PM) Person1: a modified xkcd(06:28:01 PM) Person1: a letter to him(06:28:06 PM) Person1: some constructive criticism(06:28:15 PM) Person1: maybe a drawing of mr. hat fucking(06:28:17 PM) Justin: A letter from Willy Huge 224.(06:28:21 PM) Person1: YESSS(06:28:33 PM) Dasafrak: Yesyesyes(06:28:42 PM) Person1: this is a great idea(06:28:43 PM) Person1: let's do this(06:28:48 PM) Person1: does anyone have alorias email?

"There’s a possibility we’ll get to name the school; I wanted to name it ‘the xkcd school’ because of how confused it would make the kids who are trying to learn English phonetics, but I think they’re vetoing that idea."

The first brontosaurus skeleton was just a large, incomplete apatosaurus skeleton, and some guy used bones from different dinosaurs to complete it. That's how the analogy makes sense. The alt-text made me laugh at an xkcd for the first time in so long.

Did any of you notice how on the store page, in the book section, it said about the company Breadpig. "their portion of the profits will be going to help build a school in Laos" Their portion? So he still is going to take his cut, while getting credit for being a philanthropist from the fanboys. Douche.

hey can I access the xkcdsucks chat through mIRC? Because that's what I have, or is there a link or something I can use to get to it, because I really want to talk on it

I have to captcha this, it's experst and that makes me think of this. Randall Munroe is almost an expert at a lot of things, but he falls short of communicating it through his errors that would be solved with an editor, thus he fails to spell "experts" properly and spells "experst"

Just like 636, the latest xkcd is a tiny detail from making its point clear. Just put a border between the last two instances of the girl's head and the joke works fine. Otherwise, it looks like she summoned herself.

In other news: Scribblenauts is pretty great and everyone with a DS should buy it. :)

Just like 636, the latest xkcd is a tiny detail from making its point clear. Just put a border between the last two instances of the girl's head and the joke works fine. Otherwise, it looks like she summoned herself.

How is that ironic? If Randall posts the same comic, it deserves the same criticism, plus "He already posted this." That's what you'd expect. Carl is forced into repetitive postings because he is reacting to Randall.

"MAN I LOVE SCRIBBLENAUTS. WAIT SOME FICTIONAL CHARACTER THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD IS INDIFFERENT TOWARDS SCRIBBLENAUTS? I'M GOING MAKE UP SOME STUFF THE GAME CAN DO TO INSULT YOU. TAKE THAT ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO ARE INDIFFERENT TOWARDS SCRIBBLENAUTS. THAT'S THE JOKE."

ugh, randy, that is not how you show the progression of time in comics. you can do that occasionally as a stylistic choice, yes; bill watterson did it. but what you do NOT do is draw panel borders for the first two panels, and then arbitrarily stop at the end.

my theory is that he drew this 15 minutes before midnight, and realized "shit! i'll have to put in a bunch of white space for the joke to work if 'pretentious asshole' is going to fit in one panel! Ah, fuck it."

Femaletoth: I thought so too, but the alt-text reinforces that Indifferent Guy is the pretentious one.

Side note: while I love that the developers crammed in internet memes along with the dictionary's worth of words, I'm tiring of reviews and impressions of this game boiling down to "Longcat and Rickrolling are in this? I can shoot God?! XD FIRST DAY PURCHASE" Yes, definitely have fun with the inside jokes, but also try out some IMAGINATION.

Yeah, so when I read 637 the first time, my immediate reaction was "So wait, she's the pretentious asshole? Shouldn't it be the guy?" But then I realized... The final panel is actually two different points in time, even though there's one GIANT header at the top of it.

Yeah, because being lazy and showing two girls in one panel is TOTALLY a smart solution when the comic is about a device that creates things right in front of you. OH WAIT YOU'RE AN IDIOT. OH GOD.

I have no idea where the pretentious asshole fits into the scheme of things. Indifferent guy is bald. Pretentious guy looks like Scribblenaut girl. I just have no fucking clue how he thought this layout made sense.

I love Scribblenauts. I do not love this comic. Aside from the problems with the last panel, I believe to qualify as a pretentious asshole, you have to use words longer than "guess". This guy is not pretentious, he is just an asshole. But then, maybe the girl is, in fact, a pretentious asshole. It still makes no sense.

If it makes you feel better, I used God-King without thinking of anyone historical or something.

Anyway, this is why I'm glad this blog exists: when I read today's comic, I was annoyed by the two panels crammed in one thing as well, but if I had only had the XKCD forums, nobody would acknowledge that mistake, and instead treat it like the greatest comic ever. I only have to come here though and find people noticing the exact same cock-ups.

Also: aloria, don't be douchebaggy at the Randallothon. You're like our ambassador, we have to show them that we're not angry assholes who want to ruin their party, but people with valid criticism. Also I want Randall to agree with an interview with Carl. DON'T BLOW THIS! No pressure though.

Also what's with the paypal thing? Is there some fundraiser thing to pay for her ticket?

Ok, my two cents on the newest strip:First: really, what's up with that last panel? The whole thing looks like it was put together in a hurry. It makes no sense, and not even as a "stylistic" choice it has much of a point. It's confusing and unnecessary.Second: The ONLY joke is that people who don't care much about Scribblenauts are "pretentious assholes"? WHAT THE FUCK, Randall? What's WRONG with you?

Yes. It is a fucking game. You do not know about it, because the only reason you consider yourself to be a geek is because you read XKCD.

2. "I didn't need to know what Scribblenauts is to find this funny"

That's because you will find any XKCD funny, regardless of wether you'll get it, simply because it's XKCD. You won't get most of them, because you know nothing about their subject matter, because the only reason you consider yourself to be a geek is because you read XKCD.

3. "Not sure if the part about the LHC and black holes in this game is true or not, but if it is, then shame on the makers of that game for inspiring fear in the general public when there already is too much. The LHC will not create a black hole, and as far as we know it is not dangerous in any conceivable way. How about you discover the Higgs Boson when you summon it instead of destroying our precious earth, huh?"

SHUT THE FUCK UP.

4. "So exactly what is this game then? Because if it works like this I might just have to go buy a DS just to play it."

See 1 and 2.

5. "OMFG i've been playing this for the past few days [yeah the rom] and they need to have xkcd in it. then i could spawn Randall and my head and he could get out of it."

SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP!

6. "Ok. It sounds like something I could easily get hooked on... "

See 1 and 2.

7. "Also, trying to get people organised to do an epic xkcd order (so far doing 5 people's worth of orders). Yay xkcd book"

Holy shit! FIVE orders? I've never even HEARD of epicness of that magnitude.

8. "This game seems pretty cool. I'll have to add 'buy a DS' to my list of things to do."9. "Man, I hadn't heard of this game before, so I didn't really get it... Thank you Wikipedia."

See 1 and 2.

10. "I have to say I feel shocked that so few people have heard of this game. I've been anticipating it for months! Come on people, we need to get some information flow in here!"

That's because 1 and 2 applies to the vast majority of the people in that forum.

11. "Whenever a website is referenced in an xkcd comic the server hosting that site often experiences trouble keeping up with the traffic. Will a reference to a video game cause game stores to have trouble keeping it in stock?If anyone can cause this to single-handedly cause something like that to happen it would be Randall."

I kinda find it annoying that the guy here is being labeled a pretentious asshole for one line of dialog, which I don't think is enough. Unless the true message of the comic is "people who won't play kiddy DS games for that reason are assholes." which is kinda a lame point and has already been made before.

It would be funnier if the girl summoned herself, cause she is being more of an asshole than the other guy.

You know something? I think that if someone edits the latest xkcd then they should put Randall's picture on the clone girl for "pretentious asshole" and Fred, I feel your pain, I wish I had the nerve to do what you did (read the forum responses that is)

What the hell is this?

Welcome. This is a website called XKCD SUCKS which is about the webcomic xkcd and why we think it sucks. My name is Carl and I used to write about it all the time, then I stopped because I went insane, and now other people write about it all the time. I forget their names. The posts still seem to be coming regularly, but many of the structural elements - like all the stuff in this lefthand pane - are a bit outdated. What can I say? Insane, etc.

I started this site because it had been clear to me for a while that xkcd is no longer a great webcomic (though it once was). Alas, many of its fans are too caught up in the faux-nerd culture that xkcd is a part of, and can't bring themselves to admit that the comic, at this point, is terrible. While I still like a new comic on occasion, I feel that more and more of them need the Iron Finger of Mockery knowingly pointed at them. This used to be called "XKCD: Overrated", but then it fell from just being overrated to being just horrible. Thus, xkcd sucks.

Here is a comic about me that Ann made. It is my favorite thing in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Divided into two convenient categories, based on whether you think this website

Rob's Rants

When he's not flipping a shit over prescriptivist and descriptivist uses of language, xkcdsucks' very own Rob likes writing long blocks of text about specific subjects. Here are some of his excellent refutations of common responses to this site. Think of them as a sort of in-depth FAQ, for people inclined to disagree with this site.